A. S.C. gun killing every 14 hours

Sunday

Apr 21, 2013 at 12:25 AM

PHIL NOBLE

There is a great national debate about guns taking place across the country today - in Congress, in state legislatures and at school board meetings. More importantly, this debate about guns is happening at kitchen tables, backyard cookouts and in the breakroom at work.

It is a very important and complex debate. It's about the latest newspaper headlines and our oldest historic culture; it's about passion and principle; it's about black and white; it's about husbands and wives; it's about fear and hope - it's about life and death. And ultimately, it's about who we are as a people, as South Carolinians and as Americans.

The gun debate is a cultural and political war and, as Sen. Hiram Johnson of California famously said, "The first casualty of war is the truth."

So before the gun war in South Carolina heats up to a fever pitch, it would be good for us to establish "the truth." What are the cold, hard, indisputable facts about guns in South Carolina and how do we compare with other states?

The authoritative Center for American Progress recently completed a 50 state analysis of gun violence and gun laws entitled America Under the Gun. Here are the findings for South Carolina:

• One person in South Carolina is killed by a gun every 14 hours.

• From 2001-2010, there were 5,991 people killed by guns in South Carolina.

• This number killed was 15 percent more than all U.S. combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

• Overall, we rank 6th in the nation in the highest levels of gun violence.

• We had the 7th worst gun murder rate in the nation, 39 percent higher than the national average.

• Between 2002-2011, 16 law enforcement officers were murdered by guns.

• The rate of law enforcement officers killed with guns in South Carolina is the 4th worst in the U.S.

• From 2001-20010, South Carolina ranked 4th worst in the nation in the rate of women murdered by guns. This was 64 percent above the national average.

• In terms of women murdered by men, in 2010 we ranked 2nd in the nation and more than half of these murders were committed with a gun.

• S.C. has the 6th highest rate in the country of crime-gun exports - i.e., guns sold in South Carolina that were later used in crimes in another state.

By this one key marker of illegal gun trafficking (exports), as of 2009, S.C. is more than twice as bad as the national average.

So, these are the numbers …the facts. We may not like them, we can ignore them, we can even deny them and say they are not true, but that doesn't change things. It does not change the simple facts.

Now, there is another aspect of the gun debate that is relevant here in South Carolina as well, and that is the status of our gun laws. Here things seem to get a little more complicated, but not really.

The NRA types want non-restrictive or loose gun laws and, by their analysis, S.C. gun laws rate high on their scale. To those who want more restrictions and tighter gun laws, S.C. laws rate at or near the bottom on their scale. So regardless of whether you are for or against the current law, both sides agree that S.C. has relatively non-restrictive, loose gun laws.

Now, let's take this one step further and compare the list of states that rank high on incidents of gun violence and the states with loose gun laws. And what do you get? Again, as per the American Progress study, there is a strong correlation between high gun violence and loose gun laws.

Of the 10 states with the weakest gun laws in the county, eight are among the 25 states with the highest rates of gun violence.

Of the 10 states with the strongest gun laws, nine are among the 25 states with the lowest levels of gun violence.

Note carefully, neither I nor the study has said this is a provable, direct "cause and effect" link between violence and laws….but the correlation is clearly there, so you be the judge

However, two things that are indisputably clear here in South Carolina are: 1. We are killing each other at frightening rates, and 2. Virtually none of our elected officials in the state legislature are doing much about it.

So, by the time you wake up tomorrow morning - 14 hours from now - there will be another South Carolinian lying dead from gun violence.

No matter what the politicians say, it's not a great day in South Carolina.

Phil Noble is a businessman in Charleston and serves as President of the SC New Democrats, an independent group founded by former Gov. Richard Riley committed to big change and real reform in government and politics in South Carolina. Contact him at phil@scnewdemocrats.org or go to www.SCNewDemocrats.org.

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